Scuba Buddy Mabul Dive Lodge

Honestly i don’t get how some of the reviews are so bad. The room itself is nice and cozy, with window on the water. The walls are thin but i didn’t mind. The view are incredible, you can swim from there when the tide is high and when it’s low you can just observe the marine life from the deck because the water is incredibly clear. Yes, the island is very dirty, but it’s not Scuba Buddy fault of course, locals should be educated on the matter, as well as tourists. We didn’t dive with them because of the reviews and i’m just a beginner so i got a bit scared (I dived with Mabul BackPackers and it was amazing). Patricia did our check in and gave us all the info needed. People complaining about no electricity during the day clearly have never been on small islands because that’s actually very common. Anyway on our second day for some reason there was electricity also in the morning, so even better!

Breakfast could be improved, but was okay. The only thing i really didn’t like was the poor communication. I always book last minute so i know that’s on me, but i tried to contact them before booking because there’s no info about the boats and didn’t get an answer. So i booked anyways hoping they would answer at least on booking, but also no answer. They finally answered the day after at 9.30 am, saying the boat had left at 8.30 and we had to wait 14.30 for the next one. Which was annoying because of course we wanted to get there as early as possible to enjoy at fullest. Also why is the boat so expensive if you cannot even pick the time? I don’t get it. Overall good experience :)

We loved our stay at Scuba Buddy Dive Lodge! Me and my boyfriend decided to skip the resorts and busy diving agencies and chose for a more local diving experience. Scuba buddy is a local owned residence, located directly above the sea on the wooden pilars. The owner, Qaawiem, is a very nice guy who did everything in his power to make sure we loved our stay. He advised us for buying our own diving equipment and made free pictures of us during our dives! The lodge has their own scuba diving boats, so you’re never on a crowded boat and the furtherst divesite on Mabul is only 10 minutes away. You can choose which sites to visit and they just arrange it. The rooms are simple but comfortable, but it has the best chill-out zone, which was relaxing to hang out at, in between the dives. Sometimes doing three dives in a day can be experienced as a long day, but if you can chill in hammocks in between the dives it really improves the overall experience! They are going to offer 3D2N packages for scuba diving, but for reference doing 5 fun dives in total cost around €100,- in total. If you want to go scuba diving on Mabul or Sipadan, but are on a budget like us, we would definitely recommend going to Scuba Buddy!

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On a aimé la terrasse avec une vue imprenable, les chambres spacieuses et propre et l'équipe très sympa ! Un grand merci à vous, meilleurs rapport qualité prix loin des chinois!

Le petit coup de stress lorsqu'on arrive à semporna et qu'on nous dit qu'il n'y a plus de boat-transfert jusqu'à l'île. Heureusement ils ont trouvé une solution et tout c'est bien passé ! Transfert le matin sûr sinon c'est compliqué !